Foam wiper



Feb. 8, 1938. H. e. RICHTER ET AL 2,107,376

FOAM WIPER Filed Aug. 2, 1957 6 INVENTORS H. G. R/ch fer H. J. R/chfe/fPatented Feb. 8, 1938 PATENT OFFICE FOAM WIPER Herman G. Richter andHerbert J. Richter,

' Sacramento, Calif.

Application August 2, 1937, Serial No. 156,978

11 Claims.

This invention relates generally to .an attachment for a beer faucet ofthe type used in connection with dispensing draught beer; the inventionbeing directed particularly to a device for removing the excess foamfrom draught beer as drawn intov a glass.

Heretoforeit has been the practice of bartenders to hold the beer glassin'one hand'beneath the beer faucet, to release the beer faucet valvewith the other hand until theglass is full and to then pick up aseparate and often unsanitary"beer spoon with said other hand and removethe excess foam from the glass. It often required a repetition of thisoperation in order to properly fill the glass with beer. Also, in

many instances the bartender removed more foam than necessary as thebeer spoon" would dip into the glass below the rim.

It is therefore the principal object of our invention to provide adevice for attachment toa beer faucet which, during the beer dispensingoperation, will automatically wipe the excess and undesired foam fromthe glass; actuation of such device being accomplished by slight forwardand backward motion of the beer glass as held beneath the beer faucetduring the dispensing operation.

I a As a further object of our invention, it is our I .purpose toprovide a. device of the character deates with very slight forward andscribed which is easy to operate and which operbackward movement of theglass.

,, 1 An additional object of our invention is to provide a device of thecharacter described in which substantially all of the working. parts areenclosed and which is thus quite sanitary.

It is also an object of our invention to provide *a foam wiper of thecharacter described which when in operation will tend to deflect theexcess foam downward and into the usual foam receiv- 40' ing tray belowthe beer faucet.

A-further object of the invention is to produce a simple and inexpensivedevice and yet one which will be exceedingly effective for thepurposefor which it is designed. j

These objects we accomplish by means of such structure and'relative.arrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the followingspecification and claims. In the drawing similar characters of referenceindicate corresponding parts in the several views:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of our device as mounted in connectionwith abeer faucet.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the device as mounted in connection witha beer: faucet.

the forward ends of bars II and slidably project Figure 3 is a plan viewwith housing lid removed and partly in section.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of referenceon thedrawing, the device comprises a pair of horizontally disposed L- shapedarms I disposed in spaced relation and having a substantially circularsecuring clamp 2 formed in connection with one end thereof. A resilientcircular gasket or collar 3, preferably made of rubber, is disposedwithin the clamp 2 and engages about a beer faucet 4 in the mannershown. Tightening bolts 5 extend between the spaced arms I at a pointadjacent the clamp 2 and are used to tightly engage the clamp 2 andgasket 3 about the beer faucet 4. These arms, when mounted in connectionwith a beer faucet, project rearwardly therefrom as shown.

A rectangular housing 5 is disposed between .and projects forwardly fromthe arms I, the lower ends of said arms being fixedly secured to 20 thesides of the gasket, or if desired the sides of the housing and the armsmay be formed integral. The housing 6 is initially open at the top andrear end. A cover I is mounted on the housing and is formed withdepending flanges 8 along its side and front edges. At its rear edge'the cover is formed with a relatively long de- "pending flange 9forming a closure for the initially open rear end of the housing 6.

A pair of elongated metallic cases I0, rectangu- 30 I lar in section,are disposed within the housing 6 a rack l3 along its inner side, thecorresponding side of the case I0 being cut away to permit projection ofthe rack teeth therethrough. A horizontal ear I4 is struck out from theinner side of the other case I0 and forms the upper journal for a pinionI5 pivoted between the ear I4 and the bottom of the housing 6. 45

The pinion I5 is formed with an axially extended pin or stub shaft I6which projects upwardly through an opening in the cover 1. A relativelylong foam wiping blade I8 is fixed at its inner end on pin I6 andprojects radially therefrom. This foam wiping blade is formed withdownwardly and inwardly curved faces I 9 on 0pposed sides for thepurpose hereinafter described.

Parallel rods 20 are mounted in connection with upper edge of the sionof springs l2.

through the adjacent ends of cases l0 and the end of housing 6. A beerglass engaging head 2| having a concave outer face is secured to theouter ends of rods 20, a glass locating lip 22 being formed inconnection with and projecting outwardly from the upper edge of thehead, on a level just below the lower edge of the blade l8. The rods 25are of such length that when a beer glass is disposed with one sideagainst the concave head. the glass will be disposed in proper beerreceiving position beneath the beer faucet 4.

Operation In use our foam wiping device functions in the followingmanner:

The bartender takes the beer glass G in one hand and places the samewith one side against the concave head 2! and with the upper edgeabutting against the inner surface of lip 22. With the other hand thebartender controls the beer faucet valve and upon actuation of the valve(not shown) beer flows from faucet 4 into the glass. When suificientbeer has been'dispensed into the glass to cause foam to rise above theglass, the bartender closes the beer faucet valve and then moves thebeer glass forward a short distance causing rods 20 to be moved inwardwith resultant inward or rearbars H against the compres- This causes therack l2 to rotate pinion M resulting in the foam wiping blade i8swinging through an arc of approximately 180 or from its normal positionto a. like position. on the other side of the device. Movement of theglass backward permits the blade to ward movement of swing back to itsnormal position. With such arcuate movement of the foam wiping blade I8,

the downwardly and inwardly curved faces of the blade wipe across thetop of the beer glass and remove all excess foam, the curved faces I9deflecting the foam downward into the foam receiving tray below the beerfaucet.

After the initial excess foam removing operation the bartender can thendispense more beer into the glass and again repeat the foam remove ingoperation if necessary. As the foam wiping blade i6 sweeps across thebeer glass close to the upper rim thereof the removal of all'excess foamis assured and without the removal of the desirable foam which remainsbelow such rim. By employing our novel device the number of movementsrequired to properly fill a beer glass is materially reduced as thebartender need not remove his hands from either the beer glass or beerfaucet valve as is now necessary when a separate beer spoon is used.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that we haveproduced such a device as sub stantially fulfills the objects of theinvention as set forth herein. 7 a

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferredconstruction of the device, still in practice such deviations from suchdetail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit ofthe invention, as defined by the appended claims. I

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and useful anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is: I

1. A foam wiper adapted for use with a drink dispensing faucet. saidwiper comprising a-support adapted to be mounted adjacent a faucet, amovable glass engaging element -mounted in connection with the support,a foam wiping-blade mounted on the support for movement across the topof the 3. A foam wiper adapted for use with a drink dispensing faucet,said wiper comprising a support adapted to be mounted adjacent a faucet,a movable element mounted on the support and adapted for engagement witha glass, a. foam wiping blade pivoted on the support'for swingingmovement in a horizontal plane and above the glass engaging element, andmeans between the element and blade to so swing the latter upon movementof said element.

4. A device as in claim 1 in which the foam Wiping blade is formed onone side with a downwardly and inwardly curved foam deflecting face.

5. A foam wiper adapted for use with a drink dispensing faucet, saidwiper comprising a housing adapted'to be mounted'adiacent a faucet, a Acooperatively engaged rack "and pinion mounted in the housing, a foamwiping 'blade disposed exteriorly of the housing and mounted inconnection with the pinion for swinging movement, an element secured tothe rack and slidably projecting through the housing, and a glassengaging head on the outer end of the element; the head being disposedto engage a glass and the wiping blade being disposed for swingingmovement across the top'ofa glass so'disposed.

6. A device as in claim 5 including spring means in the housing andengaging the rack whereby to urgethe'out'er 'endof the connected elementin a direction awayfrom the housing.

'7. A foam wiper adapted'for use with adrink dispensing faucet, saidWiper comprising a housing adapted to be mounted adjacent a faucet, a

rack slidably mounted in the housing, a rod secured to the rack and"slidablyprojecting through the housing, a head'on the outer end of therod adapted 'to engage a glass, a "spring in the housing and engaging"the raok,said spring urgingthe 'rackin'a direction to advance theouterend of the rod away from'the housing, a

pinion journaled'in the housingand cooperating with the rack, and'a'foamwipin'g blade disposed exteriorly of the housing and mounted inconnectionwith'the 'pinion'for swinging movement across the top of theglass-disposed in engage- 'ment with the head.

7 8. A-foam vviper adapted fo-r'attachment to a dfinkdispensihg'fauct,said wiper comprising an L-shaped supporting *arm, a clamp-on. one endof the arm adapted for engagement with a faucet, a housing'mounted onthe other end of the arm in such position to be "disposedto one side ofand below the faucet to which the device is adapted,

a foam wiping bladepivote'don the'housing for swinging movement beneaththe faucet, a slidable element projecting from the housing in thedirection' 'of thefauceha head-on the outer end of the element forengagement with alglass located beneath the faucet, and means mountedin-the housing and cooperatively connected between the element and bladeto-e1fectswinging of the blade upon sliding movement of saidelement.

9. A foam wiper adapted forattachment to a drinkdispensing faucet saidwiper comprising a pair of spaced -L--shaped supporting arms, afaucetengaging clamp formed-on and extending between one end of thearms, a housing formedin connection with the other end of the arms insuch position to be disposed to one side of and below the faucet towhich the device is adapted,

a foam wiping blade pivoted on the housing for swinging movement beneaththe faucet, a slidable element projecting from the housing in thedirection of the faucet, a head on the outer end of the element forengagement with a glass located beneath the faucet, and means mounted inthe housing and cooperatively connected between the element and blade toeffect swinging of the blade upon sliding movement of said element.

10. A device as in claim 1 in which the support comprises a housing, andsaid last named means comprises a pair of spaced bars slidably disposedin the housing in parallel but spaced relation, axial rods fixed withthe bars and slidably projecting through the housing to connection attheir outer ends with the head, springs in the housing engaging the barsand normally urging the same in a direction to advance the outer ends ofthe rods away from the housing, a rack formed along the inner side ofone bar, and a pinion journaled in the housing between the bars andcooperating with the rack, said pinion being operatively connected withthe blade to effect movement of the blade with rotation of the pinion.

11. A foam wiper adapted to be mounted adjacent a drink dispensingfaucet, said wiper comprising a movable glass engaging element, a foamwiping blade mounted for movement across the top of a glass engaging theelement, and means between the element and blade to so move the latterupon movement of said element.

HERMAN G. RICHTER. HERBERT J. RICHTER.

